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a_bailey's review against another edition
5.0
This excellent anthology covers a wide gamut of the genre universe. You can find robot stories, horror stories, fantasy, and science fantasy. If that’s not enough, then you are in luck, because you will discover a number of fantastic authors that ought to be household names. If you still demand more, every story holds many layers within it containing a great deal of social insight that needs to be absorbed by everyone within the SFF community. Every single story in here is a winner depending on your interests.
A couple stories that really stuck out to me were Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s “Ife-Iyoku, The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon” which is a sort of far future Science fantasy in which everyone on earth is suffering from the fallout of a nuclear war. The story focuses on an isolated village that has begun to inherit technological or perhaps magical powers that increase every time the size of the village shrinks. As they seek to escape the radiated land that surrounds them, they have to choose between the ways of their elders or a new set of beliefs. In a choice that accurately reflects the world we live in now, progress and tradition are set against each other.
The second story I want to discuss is Nuzo Onoh’s “The Unclean”. I don’t say this often, but this story fucked me up. This is, without a doubt in my mind, an award winning story. It's about a woman who is married off to a man who does not appreciate her until she has a son to carry the family name. Then the son dies. Things get bad. The son comes back to life. Things get worse. This story explores superstition, women’s rights, the undead, and the love we have for our children with such potency that it will be seared in to your mind.
Usually, I say “buy this if” and then add a few qualities you might like, but this time I’ll just say “buy this”.
A couple stories that really stuck out to me were Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s “Ife-Iyoku, The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon” which is a sort of far future Science fantasy in which everyone on earth is suffering from the fallout of a nuclear war. The story focuses on an isolated village that has begun to inherit technological or perhaps magical powers that increase every time the size of the village shrinks. As they seek to escape the radiated land that surrounds them, they have to choose between the ways of their elders or a new set of beliefs. In a choice that accurately reflects the world we live in now, progress and tradition are set against each other.
The second story I want to discuss is Nuzo Onoh’s “The Unclean”. I don’t say this often, but this story fucked me up. This is, without a doubt in my mind, an award winning story. It's about a woman who is married off to a man who does not appreciate her until she has a son to carry the family name. Then the son dies. Things get bad. The son comes back to life. Things get worse. This story explores superstition, women’s rights, the undead, and the love we have for our children with such potency that it will be seared in to your mind.
Usually, I say “buy this if” and then add a few qualities you might like, but this time I’ll just say “buy this”.
penprince's review against another edition
5.0
I do admit to the possibility of there being some bias to my rating, it being my first book and all. But there, can't help it, I think it's awesome.
cathepsut's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Trickin by Nicole Givens Kurtz
An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. A Halloween story with a supernatural twist. It was ok. ★★★☆☆
Red_Bati by Dilman Dila
Dilman Dila is a Ugandan writer and film maker. The story is about a robot facing an existential crisis. Is he a human inside of a pet robot? Does he have a spirit? What is his purpose?
This felt a bit like a physics lecture, with a side dish of techno-babble. However, if Murderbot ever wants to adopt a pet, this could be the ideal dog for it. Nice plot, although the ending is a bit abrupt—I think this could make an interesting novella. I liked it. ★★★★☆
A Maji Maji Chronichle by Eugene Bacon
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian computer scientist (born in Tanzania) and author of spec fic.
A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. Very wordy, wanting to create atmosphere. I didn‘t like the first few pages, but as the story picked up momentum, I liked it better. It covers the usual ethical ground of time travel stories. It is worth reading up on the Ngoni before reading the story, it helps with the background. The author is pretty sparse with filling in any details. ★★★½☆
“Early in the 20th century, the Ngoni were a fierce ethnic group, distant cousins to King Shaka of the Zulu kingdom. Way before the scramble and partition of Africa, ethnic groups had dispersed across the continent, and this particular Ngoni group set habitat in what later became known as German East Africa. In defiance to harsh methods of forced labour imposed upon them by colonialists, the Ngoni took up arms in what is historically documented as The Maji Maji Rising. Maji is a Swahili word for water. Belief holds that a witchdoctor gave warriors a magic potion that would turn German bullets to water.“
More about the Maji Maji rebellion here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maji_Maji_Rebellion
Story can be read for free here: http://www.backstoryjournal.com.au/2016/05/23/a-maji-maji-chronicle/
The Unclean by Nuzo Onoh
Nuzo Onoh is a British-Nigerian writer. She is a pioneer of the African horror subgenre. More about that here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/nigerian-british-nuzo-pioneers-new-literary-genre-horror-books/
The main character Desdemona tells her story. About her horrible marriage and what it leads her to do… Names matter, so all kinds of alarms went off in my head, when I read her name and that of her sister.
“Desee's quest will force her to make some terrible choices, and with the diabolical help of a powerful witch-doctor, embark on a harrowing journey that will end in deadly consequences, culminating in a trial by ordeal underneath the infamous Tree of Truth.“
Very good, but turns pretty strange and disgusting towards the end. Not for the squeamish. Set in Nigeria, around the time of Nigeria‘s independence. Quite a prolific country in terms of writing, it seems—I keep bumping into authors from that country—and learned about the Igbo and about fetishism. ★★★★½
A Mastery of German by Marian Denise Moore
I couldn‘t find much about the author, but think she might be from Louisiana and is a computer analyst and poet. And this story is a finalist of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 2021. https://www.tor.com/2021/07/07/theodore-sturgeon-memorial-award-2021-finalists/
A near-future story about memories and passing them on in a genetic procedure. The technology is not explained or shown and the ethical implications are mentioned, but not elaborated on much. But it would probably need a novel to explore all that. I liked it. The main character was relatable, the writing was very readable. ★★★★☆
Convergence in Chorus Architecture by Dare Segun Falowo
Another Nigerian author. More about them and their work in this article / interview: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/dare-segun-falowo/
And a short bio and links to some stories here: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/authors/dare-segun-falowo/
Mythology, Nigerian gods, dreams. Didn‘t captivate me. ★★¾☆☆
Emily by Marian Denise Moore
A snippet with possibilities.
To Say Nothing of Lost Figurines by Rafeeat Aliyu
Another Nigerian author. The title immediately made me think of [b:To Say Nothing of the Dog|77773|To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)|Connie Willis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469410460l/77773._SY75_.jpg|696] by Connie Willis. That book has been on my want-to-read list for ages, but so far I haven’t gotten round to it yet. I can‘t tell if it was a plot bunny for this story, which is a magical portal fantasy. Amusing tone, bit of a caper/heist story. Needs more… ★★★★☆
Sleep Papa, Sleep by Suyi Okungbowa Davies
And another Nigerian author. I liked his [b:David Mogo Godhunter|42201467|David Mogo Godhunter|Suyi Davies Okungbowa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538915452l/42201467._SY75_.jpg|65814010]. This story is pretty gruesome, but excellently written. We are talking body parts, corpses and violence. Well crafted tale with no loose ends. ★★★★★
The Satellite Charmer by Mame Bougouma Diene
A Franco-Senegalese-American author. I found quite a few interesting articles written by him. [b:Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night|38894105|Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night|Mame Bougouma Diene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519943953l/38894105._SY75_.jpg|60440384], his collection of four novelettes, is mentioned several times.
This story is probably the longest in this anthology. And it is odd. Set in a near future, where Chinese corporations mine African land via satellite. We are told the life story of Ibrahima in several jumps. He is an odd and fairly unlikable guy with an unusual connection to those satellites. Interesting concept, but I didn‘t like the story particularly much. Still, I learned something about the Caliphate, which was new to me. ★★¾☆☆
Here is a free online story by the author, that is very, very similar to this one here, if you want to get an impression of his writing: https://brittlepaper.com/2016/12/apes-satellites-mame-bougouma-diene-african-scifi/
Clanfall: Death of Kings by Odida Nyabundi
I had a hard time tracking down the auther, but eventually found this story, with the same beginning as the prologue of Clanfall:
“Fisi Wahoo basked in the rapturous applause of the crowd. It seemed like the whole population of New Machakos had turned up for his coronation. Fisi! Fisi! Fisi! They chanted.“
https://awacho.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/what-goes-around/
I think we are looking at a story by an author from Kenya. Good, pretty puzzling at first, set in the far future, in what used to be Kenya, with bionically enhanced, conscious and intelligent animals (I think?), where humanity has disappeared long ago. It would have been nice to have gotten some visuals on the characters. There are a lot of claws, cannons, armour and various augmentations, but we never get to see what the protagonists actually look like.
Society is ruled by feudal clans. War and conflict seem to be the favoured state of being. I liked the characters and the writing. However, this was not a coherent story and it leaves the reader in the middle of things, just when the story starts to get interesting.
If the author ever decides to make a novella or novel out of this, with a proper plot, I would like to read it. ★★★½☆
Thresher of Men by Michael Boatman
Boatman is a US American actor or novelist, writing in the splatterpunk horror genre. Sounds gory, right? I had to look it up. And holy crap, that was gruesome. Rape, gore, lots of blood. Well written though. ★★★★☆
Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald
Another Nigerian author, with a finalist for the 2020 Nebula Awards for Best Novella and a bunch of other awards for this and other stories. Content warning: attempted rape, nonconsensual sex and suicide.
The discrimination of women in parts of the story irritated me too much to truly enjoy it. That part of the story was intentional, but women were still just weak victims throughout, determined by men and the female MC, Imade, was ultimately at fault because she didn‘t know her place and didn‘t do as she was told. This didn‘t sit right with me. That‘s just me though, plenty of others liked this a lot.
The action scenes were good, the post-apocalyptic world building was good, even if I didn‘t buy the premise of the nuclear war. So this was a mixed bag for me. I might pick up the author again. ★★★☆☆
An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. A Halloween story with a supernatural twist. It was ok. ★★★☆☆
Red_Bati by Dilman Dila
Dilman Dila is a Ugandan writer and film maker. The story is about a robot facing an existential crisis. Is he a human inside of a pet robot? Does he have a spirit? What is his purpose?
This felt a bit like a physics lecture, with a side dish of techno-babble. However, if Murderbot ever wants to adopt a pet, this could be the ideal dog for it. Nice plot, although the ending is a bit abrupt—I think this could make an interesting novella. I liked it. ★★★★☆
A Maji Maji Chronichle by Eugene Bacon
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian computer scientist (born in Tanzania) and author of spec fic.
A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. Very wordy, wanting to create atmosphere. I didn‘t like the first few pages, but as the story picked up momentum, I liked it better. It covers the usual ethical ground of time travel stories. It is worth reading up on the Ngoni before reading the story, it helps with the background. The author is pretty sparse with filling in any details. ★★★½☆
“Early in the 20th century, the Ngoni were a fierce ethnic group, distant cousins to King Shaka of the Zulu kingdom. Way before the scramble and partition of Africa, ethnic groups had dispersed across the continent, and this particular Ngoni group set habitat in what later became known as German East Africa. In defiance to harsh methods of forced labour imposed upon them by colonialists, the Ngoni took up arms in what is historically documented as The Maji Maji Rising. Maji is a Swahili word for water. Belief holds that a witchdoctor gave warriors a magic potion that would turn German bullets to water.“
More about the Maji Maji rebellion here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maji_Maji_Rebellion
Story can be read for free here: http://www.backstoryjournal.com.au/2016/05/23/a-maji-maji-chronicle/
The Unclean by Nuzo Onoh
Nuzo Onoh is a British-Nigerian writer. She is a pioneer of the African horror subgenre. More about that here: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/nigerian-british-nuzo-pioneers-new-literary-genre-horror-books/
The main character Desdemona tells her story. About her horrible marriage and what it leads her to do… Names matter, so all kinds of alarms went off in my head, when I read her name and that of her sister.
“Desee's quest will force her to make some terrible choices, and with the diabolical help of a powerful witch-doctor, embark on a harrowing journey that will end in deadly consequences, culminating in a trial by ordeal underneath the infamous Tree of Truth.“
Very good, but turns pretty strange and disgusting towards the end. Not for the squeamish. Set in Nigeria, around the time of Nigeria‘s independence. Quite a prolific country in terms of writing, it seems—I keep bumping into authors from that country—and learned about the Igbo and about fetishism. ★★★★½
A Mastery of German by Marian Denise Moore
I couldn‘t find much about the author, but think she might be from Louisiana and is a computer analyst and poet. And this story is a finalist of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 2021. https://www.tor.com/2021/07/07/theodore-sturgeon-memorial-award-2021-finalists/
A near-future story about memories and passing them on in a genetic procedure. The technology is not explained or shown and the ethical implications are mentioned, but not elaborated on much. But it would probably need a novel to explore all that. I liked it. The main character was relatable, the writing was very readable. ★★★★☆
Convergence in Chorus Architecture by Dare Segun Falowo
Another Nigerian author. More about them and their work in this article / interview: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/dare-segun-falowo/
And a short bio and links to some stories here: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/authors/dare-segun-falowo/
Mythology, Nigerian gods, dreams. Didn‘t captivate me. ★★¾☆☆
Emily by Marian Denise Moore
A snippet with possibilities.
To Say Nothing of Lost Figurines by Rafeeat Aliyu
Another Nigerian author. The title immediately made me think of [b:To Say Nothing of the Dog|77773|To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)|Connie Willis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469410460l/77773._SY75_.jpg|696] by Connie Willis. That book has been on my want-to-read list for ages, but so far I haven’t gotten round to it yet. I can‘t tell if it was a plot bunny for this story, which is a magical portal fantasy. Amusing tone, bit of a caper/heist story. Needs more… ★★★★☆
Sleep Papa, Sleep by Suyi Okungbowa Davies
And another Nigerian author. I liked his [b:David Mogo Godhunter|42201467|David Mogo Godhunter|Suyi Davies Okungbowa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538915452l/42201467._SY75_.jpg|65814010]. This story is pretty gruesome, but excellently written. We are talking body parts, corpses and violence. Well crafted tale with no loose ends. ★★★★★
The Satellite Charmer by Mame Bougouma Diene
A Franco-Senegalese-American author. I found quite a few interesting articles written by him. [b:Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night|38894105|Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night|Mame Bougouma Diene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519943953l/38894105._SY75_.jpg|60440384], his collection of four novelettes, is mentioned several times.
This story is probably the longest in this anthology. And it is odd. Set in a near future, where Chinese corporations mine African land via satellite. We are told the life story of Ibrahima in several jumps. He is an odd and fairly unlikable guy with an unusual connection to those satellites. Interesting concept, but I didn‘t like the story particularly much. Still, I learned something about the Caliphate, which was new to me. ★★¾☆☆
Here is a free online story by the author, that is very, very similar to this one here, if you want to get an impression of his writing: https://brittlepaper.com/2016/12/apes-satellites-mame-bougouma-diene-african-scifi/
Clanfall: Death of Kings by Odida Nyabundi
I had a hard time tracking down the auther, but eventually found this story, with the same beginning as the prologue of Clanfall:
“Fisi Wahoo basked in the rapturous applause of the crowd. It seemed like the whole population of New Machakos had turned up for his coronation. Fisi! Fisi! Fisi! They chanted.“
https://awacho.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/what-goes-around/
I think we are looking at a story by an author from Kenya. Good, pretty puzzling at first, set in the far future, in what used to be Kenya, with bionically enhanced, conscious and intelligent animals (I think?), where humanity has disappeared long ago. It would have been nice to have gotten some visuals on the characters. There are a lot of claws, cannons, armour and various augmentations, but we never get to see what the protagonists actually look like.
Society is ruled by feudal clans. War and conflict seem to be the favoured state of being. I liked the characters and the writing. However, this was not a coherent story and it leaves the reader in the middle of things, just when the story starts to get interesting.
If the author ever decides to make a novella or novel out of this, with a proper plot, I would like to read it. ★★★½☆
Thresher of Men by Michael Boatman
Boatman is a US American actor or novelist, writing in the splatterpunk horror genre. Sounds gory, right? I had to look it up. And holy crap, that was gruesome. Rape, gore, lots of blood. Well written though. ★★★★☆
Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald
Another Nigerian author, with a finalist for the 2020 Nebula Awards for Best Novella and a bunch of other awards for this and other stories. Content warning: attempted rape, nonconsensual sex and suicide.
The discrimination of women in parts of the story irritated me too much to truly enjoy it. That part of the story was intentional, but women were still just weak victims throughout, determined by men and the female MC, Imade, was ultimately at fault because she didn‘t know her place and didn‘t do as she was told. This didn‘t sit right with me. That‘s just me though, plenty of others liked this a lot.
The action scenes were good, the post-apocalyptic world building was good, even if I didn‘t buy the premise of the nuclear war. So this was a mixed bag for me. I might pick up the author again. ★★★☆☆
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Gore, and Blood
vortacist's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
e_flah's review
There is truly something in Dominion for everyone. The stories ran the gamut from science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a bit of everything in between. My favorite of the collection was Red_Bati about a robot dog trying to figure out his purpose now that his owner has passed away.
Some content warnings for specific stories are below (this is not a complete list):
- Trickin' --> blood, descriptions of gore, violence, mention of pandemics
- Red_Bati --> death of a loved one
- A Maji Maji Chronicle --> war violence
- The Unclean --> marital rape, intimate partner violence, death of a child, grief, body horror
- A Mastery of German --> medical/science experiments on Black people
- Sleep Papa, Sleep --> body horror, death of a parent
- The Satellite Charmer --> infidelity, attempted death by suicide
- Thresher of Men --> body horror, violence, police violence, immolation, homophobia, transphobia, racism
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon --> graphic violence, rape, sexism, death by suicide
Some content warnings for specific stories are below (this is not a complete list):
- Trickin' --> blood, descriptions of gore, violence, mention of pandemics
- Red_Bati --> death of a loved one
- A Maji Maji Chronicle --> war violence
- The Unclean --> marital rape, intimate partner violence, death of a child, grief, body horror
- A Mastery of German --> medical/science experiments on Black people
- Sleep Papa, Sleep --> body horror, death of a parent
- The Satellite Charmer --> infidelity, attempted death by suicide
- Thresher of Men --> body horror, violence, police violence, immolation, homophobia, transphobia, racism
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon --> graphic violence, rape, sexism, death by suicide
dan_ackerman's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This anthology presents works across a variety of speculative fiction genres. As with any anthology, some works will appeal more to certain readers than others, but Dominion has something for everyone and it has something that almost no other collection of spec-fic has: black people, both as characters and authors. Speculative fiction in the United States has overall failed black people in terms of representation. Mainstream spec-fic is dominated by white authors. Some well-meaning white authors (such as myself) make efforts to include well-developed characters of other races, but that does little to repair the nearly complete erasure of black people as creators, not just as characters, from the speculative fiction market. This is not, of course, to say that black people have not made their indelible mark on speculative fiction; one of the most renowned spec-fic authors is a black woman, Black Panther took the world by storm, and Jordan Peele is giving horror a facelift. There are lots of black authors and creators, but a few big names dominating a genre is not enough. Books like Dominion fill an important gap in a lot of people’s reading lists.
The voices of the authors are by no means a monolith; this anthology carries us across cultures, nations, time periods, and genders. Some of the stories I deeply enjoyed, others were not exactly to my taste, but that’s the beauty of an anthology – trying something new. Many of the authors tackled difficult issues in their works and each one had a unique style and narrative. Not once did I read a story and think “oh, this again.” A few stories had some really unexpected twists and concepts, which I found delightful. Overall, I find that the spec-fic genre, despite having the infinite bounds of imagination to pull from, sometimes still manages to get a little repetitive. We see the same tropes touched on over and over again. This collection has fresher takes on certain themes.
I highly recommend this anthology to anyone seeking good speculative fiction. I also recommend it to white readers in general, because honestly, you probably haven’t read enough from black authors, either.
The voices of the authors are by no means a monolith; this anthology carries us across cultures, nations, time periods, and genders. Some of the stories I deeply enjoyed, others were not exactly to my taste, but that’s the beauty of an anthology – trying something new. Many of the authors tackled difficult issues in their works and each one had a unique style and narrative. Not once did I read a story and think “oh, this again.” A few stories had some really unexpected twists and concepts, which I found delightful. Overall, I find that the spec-fic genre, despite having the infinite bounds of imagination to pull from, sometimes still manages to get a little repetitive. We see the same tropes touched on over and over again. This collection has fresher takes on certain themes.
I highly recommend this anthology to anyone seeking good speculative fiction. I also recommend it to white readers in general, because honestly, you probably haven’t read enough from black authors, either.
carturo222's review
4.0
My thoughts here.
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2021/04/review-dominion-anthology.html
http://www.nerds-feather.com/2021/04/review-dominion-anthology.html
booktreks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
witmol's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Many of the stories in this speculative anthology by African and African diaspora writers address and confront the effects of trauma, hope and power.
There is a great deal of visceral gore in several stories, so it's not for the faint-of-heart, though sometimes the gore highlights the almost casual but far more sinister horrors of genocide, capitalism and forced childbirth.
Importantly, this anthology is not written for the 'Western' gaze. It does not purport to 'represent' African writing but instead embraces the breadth of real and imagined cultures across a diverse continent and beyond. The plural African identity helps to guide the reader in these speculative worlds where different norms and customs guide the characters and action to unexpected places.
There is a great deal of visceral gore in several stories, so it's not for the faint-of-heart, though sometimes the gore highlights the almost casual but far more sinister horrors of genocide, capitalism and forced childbirth.
Importantly, this anthology is not written for the 'Western' gaze. It does not purport to 'represent' African writing but instead embraces the breadth of real and imagined cultures across a diverse continent and beyond. The plural African identity helps to guide the reader in these speculative worlds where different norms and customs guide the characters and action to unexpected places.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Child death and Genocide
Necrophiliasadscorpxo's review
4.0
« I received a digital ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. »
DOMINION is an anthology of speculative fiction written by Black authors all over the diaspora, and is the book I didn't know I needed.
One word to describe these stories? Rich. All of them are. The reading experience felt like if I sat near a fire in the wild, listening to griots telling stories and playing instruments at the same time. Even the science-fiction aspects —that I'm not usually a fan of— were well executed here. As anyone would expect, the world was diverse, characters multi-dimensional and unique.
The story that I liked the most was THE UNCLEAN by Nuzo Onoh. That piece was mindblowing, and I still think about it weeks after I finished it. Along with the other stories, it's really demonstrative of the spectacular similarities between African cultures.
I'm giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, because sometimes it was a bit difficult to follow some of the stories, but that's understandable. Conveying a lot of information in a short piece is hard, which is why the flow can be a little less fluid than in a full-length novel.
Overall this was a great anthology, with excellent stories that more people should read. It screams African authenticity, and I recommend it to people that wish to dive in those particular themes, and to all people of African descent that wish to rediscover themselves.
DOMINION is an anthology of speculative fiction written by Black authors all over the diaspora, and is the book I didn't know I needed.
One word to describe these stories? Rich. All of them are. The reading experience felt like if I sat near a fire in the wild, listening to griots telling stories and playing instruments at the same time. Even the science-fiction aspects —that I'm not usually a fan of— were well executed here. As anyone would expect, the world was diverse, characters multi-dimensional and unique.
The story that I liked the most was THE UNCLEAN by Nuzo Onoh. That piece was mindblowing, and I still think about it weeks after I finished it. Along with the other stories, it's really demonstrative of the spectacular similarities between African cultures.
I'm giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars, because sometimes it was a bit difficult to follow some of the stories, but that's understandable. Conveying a lot of information in a short piece is hard, which is why the flow can be a little less fluid than in a full-length novel.
Overall this was a great anthology, with excellent stories that more people should read. It screams African authenticity, and I recommend it to people that wish to dive in those particular themes, and to all people of African descent that wish to rediscover themselves.